William best



Patefited Ian. I7, I899.

No. 6l7,872.

W. BEST.

,NIINERS SAFETY LAMP. (Application filed Mar. 24, 1398. (No Model.)

Fla-.1.

'UNI'IED "STATES.

WILLIAM BEST, or

PATENT OFFICE.

MORLEY, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE ACKROYD & ,BEST, LIMITED, OF SAMEPLACE.

... :,...M|nERs SAFETY-LAMP.

srncrmcnrron forming part of Letters retentive. 617,872, ama- January17, 1-899. Application filed March 24,1898. derlalNo. 74,990. on model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BEST, asubject of the Queen of Great Britainand Ireland, and a resident of Morley, near Leeds, in the 5 county ofYork, England, have invented cerfain new and useful Improvement inMiners Safety-Lamps, of ,which the following is a specification. j

It is the custom fqrall miners lamps to be delivered into the lamp-roomfor cleaningpure poses after they have been employed in the mine; butwhen'th'e lamp 'is again returned to. the miner'ready lighted and lockedhe has no guarantee that the lamp has been properly attended to. If thelamp-cleaner is negligentin his duty, he may simply remove the lampbottom and clean the interiorof the lamp with out taking out the gauze,or the] lamp may be closedafter cleaningwithout having a gauze in it atall. Faults of this description cannot be detected by the miner, andthis negligence has often been the cause of disastrous explosions. Nowthe object of this invention is to prevent explosions being caused inmines through the negligence of the lamp-cleaner or' other personcleaning the lamps or through any attempt on the part of theminer toloose the glass, and with this object I construct a ings, wherein-Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of same,

and Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are detail views.

The general structure of the lower part of 3 5 the lamp is as follows: Ais the lamp-frame,

, and B is the lamp-bottom or oil-container,

which is provided with a'spring-bolt-O only capable of being withdrawnby means of a powerful magnet. The lamp-bottom B screws 0 intothelamp-frame A by means of a righthand screw-thread D. E is a ring forreceiving the base of the glass J. This ring E screws into thelamp-frame by means of a left-hand thread F, and the base of the ring Eis pro- '5 vided with a flange G, on the under side of which aresituated rack-teeth 11 (see inverted plan view'Fig. 5) for engaging withthe lock-'- ing-bolt C.

The particular arrangements of the upper 10 part of the lampcharacterizing the invention and whereby the screw of the outer coverlamp as shown in the accompanying drawor bonnet R in, be fastened afterthe base of the lamp is locked and whereby the bonnet R cannot beunfastened until the base of the lamp is unlocked are asfollows: Theupper edge of the lamp-glass J bears against a shoulder -L fe rm'ed uponthe lower edge of the gauze cove M is a spring which. is attached to thela p-frame A, and N is'a stud which is attached andpasses through a holein the lamp-frame A. P is a spring whigh is fastened to the under sideof the bonnet R, which latter is" connected to the lamp-frame A bymeans-of the screw-thread S. i

When the ring E islscre-wed tightly home, the glass .T holdstheshoulder-L of thegauzr K firmly up against its seat in the' lamp-frameA, the said shoulder in its turn holding up the stud N, as shown atFig.3 and plan view' Fig. 4, and so keeping the spring M in a position toengage withfthe s ringP, as'seen at Fig. 3. The lamp-bottom. can now bescrewed into position, the bolt 0 running around over the rack-teeth Huntil the said lamp-bottom B is screwed securely home. Any attempt tounscrew the lamp-bottom B without firstwithdrawing the bolt only tendstotighten the parts more firmly in position owing to the re- 'versedirectionof 'the screw-threads Fand. D'."

When the lamp is handed to the-miner in this condition-via, with thelamp-base locked, but with the bonnet R removed-athe miner or inspectorcan only examine the gauze and they cannot tamper with the lamp. Whenthe examination of the gauze K has been made, the .bonnet R is screwedfirmly home= I until the spring P takes behind'the spring M, \v and thebonnet is thus firmly locked until the spring M resumes the positionshown at'Fig. 9o 2, which cannot take place until the lamp is. taken topieces in the lamp-room. Thus according to my invention the lampbonnetB. may be screwed on and 01f from the lamp-frame, to which it. can belocked by the 5 spring-catch'M, the said catch-spring M only beingbrought into action'when the glassJ and the gauze Kare pressed firmly inposition by means of the ring. E. This enables the lamp to behanded tothe miner with the mo gauze, glass, and glass-holding ring fastened inposition and with the'lamp-base already the end of the springM 6p Ilocked, while the bonnet can be handed separately to the miner, or itcan be screwed loosely on the frame,- but not far enough for thespring-catch M to engage and lock the said bonnet R. The miner can thustake 01f the bonnet R and see that the gauze K is in position and clean,and the inspector can repeat the examination and then screw the bonnetup until the spring-lock P engages with the spring M in the lamp-frame,thus firmly locking the bonnet R, which cannot be again opened until thelamp-bottom B is unlocked in the lamp-room. The lamp-cleaner is obligedto remove the gauze K and glass J in order to remove the bonnet R,thusvpreventing the possibility of his simply cleaningthe interior ofthe gauze K with a brush, so as to save himself the trouble of removingthe glassholding ring E. If the gauze is not properly cleaned or if ithas been omitted, the neg-. Iect is at once detected by the miner or theinspector. I am aware that a screw-01f bonnet is not new and also thatit. is not new to have a screw-oit bonnet that may be fastened by a leadplug or other separate lock. Neither is it pewjto employ a'screw-off befastened by a locking arrangement thati Witnesses:

' locks the lamp-bottom at the same time; but

it is entirely new tohave a screw-01f bonnet I that maybe fastened afterthe lamp is locked with a spring-stop bonnet that may and that cannot beunfastened until the lamp itself is-unlocked in the lamp-room.

Having now described. my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isl V 1. In a miners safety-lam p having ascrew 01f bonnet, a spring-catch for locking the bon net, the saidspring-catch being brought into an acting position on the closing of thelamp, substantially as set forth.

In a miners safety-lamp having a screwofi bonnet, the spring-stop Mbrought. into the acting position by the flange .L of the gauze K on theraising of the glass J when locking the lamp, in combination with thespring catch P on the bonnet R, substantially as set forth.

3. In a miuers safety-lamp having a screwofi bonnet, a spring-catch Psituated on the under side of the'bonnet R, in combination M having astud N the latter being actuated by the raising of the glass J onthelamp being closed, substantially as set forth In witness whereof I havehereunto set my handin presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM BEST.

GRIFFITH BREWER, F, W. BARRACLOUGH.

